When some snakey deal is finally reached putting Iraq's oil in the bloody hands of the big oil companies then we'll see real talk of our troops coming home. Not all of them will come home, of course. A certain number of our troops will remain as the personal security force of the big oil companies once they control the oil. George Bush, Dick Cheney and their neocon buddies have wrapped up our military (and our country) and sold it.

Big Oil, and croney contractors: oil and money, that's what this was about from the start, and that's what its still about.

Maybe he ment "Baghdad" which is the fabulous new casino/ressort complex in Las Vegas. I hear Sen. McCain was recently seen strolling the sumtuaously authentic boulevards, stopping for a bite to eat at a fine cafe and shopping at the quaint shops (and Nordstrom's) before heading to the incredible golden-domed Casino Suni-esque.

Aids were over heard trying to explain the the daffed and befuddled senator that he wasn't in the "real" Baghdad.

I always wonder (and I find myself wondering about this quite a bit) where are the truly talented people who are intelligent, insightful, creative and earnest? It seems like the only people to find success these days are the sociopaths who have absolutely nothing of worth to offer. How do they succeed and excel beyond people who truly have something to offer.

I finished the article and was left thinking "who is this woman and why is she on tv spouting her opinions as though they matter?"

Britney Spears: not talented, not interesting in the least

Brad Pitt/Angela Jolie/Jennifer Aniston (together, alone or any combination): not talented, not interesting in the least

Rush Limbaugh: not talented, not interesting in the least

George Bush: not talented, not interesting in the least

Simon Cowell: not talented, not interesting in the least

Anna Nichole Smith: not talented, not interesting in the least

Notice a pattern here? Oddballs and freaks have always captured the public's imagination, but it seems like we've become such a vapid society that all we exhault and reward is freakish, attention-whoring egotists.

When I was in the 7th grade in the dying days of the '60's Sister Anne told us the resurrection never happened. "If you just believe in magic tricks you're missing the point. The resurrection is a symbolic story that tells us Christ's message survives his death." No wiser words were spoken. We were also taught that Jesus was naked when crucified, was middle eastern, the Nativity story was a fable and the miracles were symbols. That was when the Catholics were getting pretty progressive.

I've long ago stopped believing in religion, but that nun was right on target. Its a lesson all these rage and hate-filled and bitter "christians" should take to heart.

Sister Anne we need you!

I think the point being made is that Jesus wasn't the blond, blue-eyed whiter-than-white European "ideal" as he is always depicted as and reveared as by holier-than-thou Christians. Obviously he must have looked like a Palastinean (if he even existed as a single person and not a combination of "prophets" working the circuit at the time).

I do find it amusing that so many "christians" go balistic whenever someone suggests Jesus didn't look like Jeffrey Hunter.

read my post

We have Gen. Petraeus meetingwith the Republican caucus on Iraq AND today Barack Obama drops this gem:

-If President Bush vetoes an Iraq war spending bill as promised, Congress quickly will provide the money without the withdrawal timeline the White House objects to because no lawmaker "wants to play chicken with our troops," Sen. Barack Obama said Sunday.-

So Sen. Obama is tossing aside the House and Senate's fubding bill as an empty gesture. How on earth can the Democrats in congess expect to battle the President on this when on of their most public (and ambitious) members has already folded? Incredible. Sen. Obamam you WON'T be president.

Meanwhile the Republican are doing what they do best. And in the end they'll own this issue. They'll look like the party of strength and the Democrats will look weak and spineless.

Thank you Sen. Obama.

In other words, another fairy tale.

Find me sound historical sources and documents for any of this (that includes you Mathew, Mark, Luke and John), then I'll listen.

Clearly Iran was masterful in the orchestrating and handling of the British sailor crisis, but they weren't alone. The British and Tony Blair also were very deft. Oddly, the Bush administration was nearly non-existent. I have to wonder if the British told Bush and his co-horts to shut up and stay out of it?

So the Persians and British handle their "crisis" in a civilized and diplomatic manner, and Nancy Pelosi makes her trip to Syria where she looks professional, dignified and compentent. That was the first time in years I haven't cringed at the sight of an U.S. official playing the borish Ugly American on a supposed diplomatic mission (whether its Bush or Cheney themselves, the always inappropriately slutty and harsh Condi...or John McCain's rediculous "walk" through Baghdad).

The Iranian (although completely manufactured) and British handling of a diplomatic crisis and Pelosi's appearance on the international stage just cast an even harsher light of the failings of the Bush administration. He seems completely imoptent and irrelevant now.

Perhaps it would be a better idea if he kept his reconstituted ass right here and tried to rectify some of the profound damage he had a big hand in inflicting on this country.

Pelosi's Syrian visit acomplished something quite important. It pretty much renders the Bush administration irrelevent. Speaker Pelosi conducted herself with professionalism and grace which is far, far different than we see whenever the idiotic George Bush, the contemptuous Dick Cheney, the creepily slutty Condi Rice or the borish John Bolton make "diplomatic" trips abroad. Pelosi became the new face of US diplomacy whether they like it or not.